Adobe Creative Cloud won't uninstall? The official order

The official way: apps first, the desktop app second, the Cleaner Tool last

Adobe documents three routes, and they are not interchangeable. The first two are the normal uninstall. The third is for the cases Adobe lists: you can't update or install Creative Cloud apps after trying to repair or uninstall the desktop app, you need to completely remove older Adobe software, the Creative Cloud app fails to launch even after a reinstall, or you can't sign in or connect to Adobe's servers after the standard fixes.

1. 01

   Check that your files are synced

   Before running any uninstaller, make sure all your files are synced to your Creative Cloud account. Adobe states that files not synced to the account could be lost.

2. 02

   Uninstall each Creative Cloud app

   Select the Creative Cloud icon in the Windows taskbar to open the desktop app. In the Apps tab, select Your apps, then the More actions icon next to the app, then Uninstall. Choose Keep to retain the app's notifications, alerts, interface settings, plugins and other preferences, or Remove to delete them. Cancel stops the uninstall.

3. 03

   Uninstall the desktop app with Adobe's uninstaller

   Adobe does not recommend uninstalling the Creative Cloud desktop app, and says it may be required when troubleshooting or when there is an issue with the installer. Download the Creative Cloud Uninstaller for your version of Windows from Adobe's article, extract the zipped file and run it. Select Repair first: Adobe says that if repairing resolves the issue, you need not uninstall. If it does not, proceed to Uninstall, then select Close on the confirmation. On a work PC you may not have administrator rights; Adobe says to contact your admin.

4. 04

   Only if those fail: prepare for the Cleaner Tool

   Close all Creative Cloud apps and the desktop app, and back up your files and folders. Adobe also asks you to run its Log Collector tool, to save a copy of C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Adobe\AdobeSync\CoreSync and C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CoreSync, to close the remaining Adobe background processes in Task Manager, and to keep a copy of third-party plug-ins and preference files stored in Adobe product folders.

5. 05

   Run the Cleaner Tool as administrator

   Right-click the downloaded AdobeCreativeCloudCleanerTool.exe and choose Run as administrator. Choose the language, type y to accept the licence agreement, type the number of the option you need and then the number of the app to remove, and type y to confirm. When it reports Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool completed successfully, press Enter and restart the PC.

What can stay behind, and what to keep

Adobe's articles name the two CoreSync folders under AppData, which it asks you to copy before the Cleaner Tool, and the background processes to close first, among them Creative Cloud, Creative Cloud Content Manager, Creative Cloud Libraries Synchronizer, Creative Cloud Interprocess Service and armsvc.exe. These read-only PowerShell commands show which Adobe programs, services and scheduled tasks are still registered and whether the CoreSync folders exist. A name match is a lead, not proof: other Adobe products, such as Acrobat, carry the same publisher name.

Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*',
  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' |
  Where-Object DisplayName -match 'Adobe' | Format-Table DisplayName, DisplayVersion
Get-Service -DisplayName '*Adobe*' | Format-Table Name, DisplayName, Status
Get-ScheduledTask |
  Where-Object { $_.TaskName -match 'Adobe' -or $_.TaskPath -match 'Adobe' } |
  Format-Table TaskPath, TaskName, State
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Adobe\AdobeSync\CoreSync", "$env:APPDATA\Adobe\CoreSync"